Dancehouse: Dance Territories: Sense and Sensibility, Melbourne Festival -
Dancehouse, October 24 and 26 -
Dancehouse, in association with Melbourne Festival, presents “Dance Territories: Sense and Sensibility”, two programs featuring two performances. Each utilises a minimalist choreographic language, with minimalist costumes and sets.
The opening piece really does set the audience up for the minimalist theme. Choreographer Sandra Parker’s Transit has performer Phoebe Robinson exhibit a series of very controlled, deliberate, pedestrian movements. Scratching her leg, wiping her nose, shaking her head, walking from one side of the stage to the other - these controlled and deliberate movements are performed over and over against a very slow-moving backdrop of power lines and palm trees on a projection screen (Rhian Hinkley).
Perrine Valli’s performs her self-devised work Ma Cabane au Canada & Serie on a black stage with white lines carving the space. The work has three clear parts, and Perrine’s movements are angular and controlled, echoing the white lines. Her long legs and slow movements are so controlled and at times mesmerising. The music, “Serie” by Colleen, is also very beautiful.
Fractie, choreographed by Cindy Van Acker and performed by herself and Tamara Bacci, is a series of body contortions, focusing on different parts of the body each time. The dancers are topless, dressed only in flesh-toned underwear, in the floodlit studio. All of the performance takes place with the dancers lying on, or very close to, the floor, and it must be noted that the tiered seating in the upstairs studio where this is performed is not ideal and it is difficult to see the dancers.
The last piece in the program is Matthew Day’s Thousands, which is the first instalment in his solo series, Trilogy. It is a study in stillness, and comprises twenty minutes of Matthew moving infinitesimally slowly to a score beginning with ocean waves and ending in thumping house music. His muscle control is remarkable; one can see the toll on his body as his muscles quiver like leaves throughout the piece. He begins on the floor, and across the twenty minutes of the show, moves to a standing position, back to the floor, and back to standing.
It is difficult to engage with a series of performances based entirely on minimalism, but the dancers in “Dance Territories: Sense and Sensibility” are applauded for their incredible control and precision in their work.
-- ASTRID LAWTON